Rational Nation USA

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny It is that time of year again. Sunny skies, beautiful warm days and cool nights. Especially so in the north country. So, me and the ever lovely Mrs. Rational are heading up north to enjoy some relaxing quality time as well having fun with our grandson. Funny how that energetic dynamo can make grandpa and grandma feel young again. Life is wonderful, and certainly there is a time to put politics aside for the really important things in life. And so we do. Back soon! Enjoy the archives, and stay cool...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Nancy Pelosi once again revealing she just doesn't get what it truly all means. Short term victory versus a very real potentially long term loss. But the Madame will gloat in her delusional euphoric world none the less. Now, for a clear view of the SCOTUS's decision and its potential longer term impact . Indeed proponents of limited constitutional government actually had a good day. Pelosites are quite likely looking up a dead go*t* a*s in all reality. Via: Cato@Liberty Via: Memeorandun

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Being one who is opposed to the ACA (ObamaCare) because I believe it is not the best this nation can devise (think the Swiss Healthcare Plan), I none the less fully and vehemently support the majority decision. I support it not because in a theoretical or philosophical sense it is valid. It is not. Rather I support it in the judicial sense it is valid, has merit, and because the argument it should be (have been) invalided on the basis of the individual mandate being unconstitutional was not compelling. In the opinion of this site the rationale for upholding the legislation is intriguing, indeed brilliant. Essentially the ruling rewrites the power of Congress power to regulate . Chief Justice Roberts is deserving of our respect. Both for rising above pure partisan political ideology (which Supreme Court Justices are supposed to do) as well as for his brilliantly written majority opinion that essentially places the

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs - Tyranny CBC Fast and Furious, while Congress takes it's contempt of congress vote over Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to release documents the Black Congressional Caucus reportedly is threatening to walk off the floor of Congress. This comes as no surprise really, but it does show a certain lack of maturity and good sense. Amounting to nothing more than a display of emotionalism it is intended to score political points with the Hispanic, Asians, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. A recent Fox News poll indicates 38% view see the fight over F&F as a cover up by the White House while 32% view it as a "witch hunt" by the republicans in Congress. 12% percent believe it is both and 18% have no opinion. On a personal note, where there's smoke there is quite often fire. It bears further investigation. Back to the Black Congressional Caucus and their politically motivated consideration

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Senator Rand Paul ( R-Ky) If the following report is true Rand Paul, Republican Senator from Kentucky has succeeded, at least IMO, in losing a great deal of his credibility. Partisan politics and less than completely ethical tactics have pretty much been a staple in recent years from both parties. Senator Rand Paul has just elevated the practice to a new level. I'll let The Huffington Post fill in the details. WASHINGTON -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) moved this week to hold a noncontroversial flood insurance bill hostage until the Senate agrees that life begins at fertilization. The bill, which would financially boost the National Flood Insurance Program on the cusp of hurricane season, had been expected to pass easily in the Senate. But since Paul on Monday offered an unrelated "fetal personhood" amendment, which would give legal protections to fetuses from the moment of fertilization, Senate Majorit

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny A beautiful mountain view, complete with the early morning fog. Scenes I enjoyed in my youth living in the Pacific Northwest. I think living there, and having the opportunity to enjoy such beauty almost daily is why I am so reflective. As I found myself reflecting on the present day state of politics, most specifically on the reality we are deeply divided along political fault lines, it occurred to me this picture is very representative of the current state of our nation. Whether good ideas start in liberal circles or conservative circles they are, none the less, good idea. But like with most things good ideas are seldom perfect. That is to say they can, and should be improved upon. But, as almost everyone knows, at least on the personal, family, and business level, arriving at the best solutiions usually require honest discussion and compromise. Heated, and sometimes almost uncivil irrational discussions occur. As

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -s- Tyranny Romney speak, from The Hill : Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney argued Tuesday that if the president's signature healthcare legislation was overturned Thursday by the Supreme Court, it would mean that President Obama's first term was a waste. "Instead of focusing on immigration — and of course the big issue, which was the economy, and getting the economy going — he instead focused on putting in place his healthcare reform called ObamaCare," Romney said at a campaign stop in Salem, Va. "As you know, the Supreme Court is going to be dealing with whether or not ObamaCare is constitutional. If it's not, if ObamaCare is not deemed constitutional, than the first three and a half years of this president's term will have been wasted on something that does not help the American people." So, Mittens, does this mean that if the Affordable Care Act; aka ObamaCare, is de

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Perhaps it's nostalgia week for me. But I always liked Bob Dole. Didn't always agree with him mind you, but I still wish he woulds have won the 1996 match up against himself and Bill Clinton. I always got the sense he could be trusted. Maybe that's why he didn't win. Anyway Senator Dole is a real American who served his nation in wartime, took a bullet for liberty, and went on to serve it in public life for 50 years. Admirably, with integrity, and honor. Ah, the good old days of the Republican party perhaps. As I was reading an article in GQ this morning I was reminded of the candor and humor of the Kansas Senator. That, and how much respect I hel\d for the man. So, I decided to share a few quick excerpts of his comments from the article... I ask him the question everyone seems to be asking of the GOP faithful in 2012: "Would you say your endorsement of Romney was...tepid?" "Not

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Refreshing. A majority of voters recognize the wrongheadedness of Obama's decision to invoke Executive Privilege to block the release of documents in the "Fast and Furious scandal. Whether his miscalculation will hurt him politically remains to be seen. As a majority of voters believe the Congress has been intentionally obstructive to the President it will likely be a wash. The Hill - A clear majority of likely voters believes President Obama has exercised his executive power inappropriately — particularly in blocking the release of documents relating to "Operation Fast and Furious," according to a new poll for The Hill. But in a sign that the electorate’s frustration extends to Capitol Hill, voters by a significant margin also feel Congress has behaved in an obstructionist manner toward the president. Amid the discontent over the behavior of both Obama and members of Congress, the poll found a st

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny It has allegedly been said as one gets older they get wiser. This is quite probable as the experiences of a long and productive life gives a person many references that naturally become part of their life experience and mold their philosophy of existence. Of course that assumes the individual chooses to use reality and the truth of rational unemotional thought to guide them. Both in their analysis as well as their ultimate conclusions on every important issue of their life. I was not a advocate nor a supporter of William Jefferson Clinton in his hay day as President and Commander in Chief. He was, as they say, just a bit too progressive as well as being a bit untrustworthy. I shall leave it to Hillary to clarify the forgoing statement. Forgive me as I have digressed... I stumbled across the following article published today in THE DAILY BEAST , a leftist rag I rarely visit. On the rare occasions when I do i typi

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny As The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi was official declared the winner of Egypt's presidential election the Obama administration extended it's congratulations through Press Secretary Jay Carney . This against a back drop of Islamic tolerance and love. Note; the video starts automatically . Be sure to read the captions as the multitude is chanting and the cleric declare Jerusalem is their goal. Things are looking much worse for the only rational democracy in the region... Israel. Read more commentary here , here , here , and here . Via: Memeorandum

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny 2012 really does present an opportunity for change. Real change as in changing the current of American political direction and ideology that has essentially remained stuck in midstream for years. For sure the feeble arguments for change from either side of the same political continuum has resulted in gentle movement to either one side or the other of the central current. However, as the country has flip flopped from republican to democrat back to republican back to democrat... etc. the force in American politics continues moving in the same general destructive direction. Which brings me to the point of this post and my ensuing arguments for hooking on to the opportunity for real, significant, and fundamental change. The Associated Press ran an article this morning based on a Associated Press-KfG poll showing 1 in 4 potential voters remain uncommitted as to who they may ultimately cast their presidential vote for in No

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny We all know that every politician as well as their handlers spin the realities of the politicians record to reflect favorably on the politician. President Obama and his team are experts at the activity. Governor Romney and his team seem to hitting their stride and playing an effective game of catch up at this point. What say you? We're you impressed?

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny The Washington Post   ran an article Saturday June 23rd pointing out that many "prominent" legal scholars believe tactical errors by President Obama's legal team of experts (tactics approved by him) actually may have actually damaged the likelihood of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or ObamaCare) surviving Supreme Court scrutiny. The segment of the article that actually supports the argument made by the "prominent" legal scholars follows below. We should all be thankful that the Obama team of legal experts failed to see the advantage in using them as central to their arguments. To defend the health-care mandate, for instance, the government could have cited past measures such as a 1792 law signed by President George Washington requiring able-bodied men 18 or older to purchase a musket and ammunition. Several scholars, even former president Bill Clinton, have cited the 18th-century law as an example

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny A new Pew Research Center poll just out provides some interesting information on the Obama Romney match up. Obama currently holds the edge in the "liked" category while Romney has the edge with voters when it comes to the "economy". Interestingly enough Romney holds the edge amongst those actively giving a lot of thought to the campaign. There certainly is volumes that can, and should be be said on the values of educating oneself on the issues of the day and voting intelligently using the faculties of ones own mind. This of course is in direct opposition to catching a few sound bites that sound good and makes you "feel good" about the false comparisons of the two major party candidates. All indications suggest that the 2012 vote will be a very close one. Barack Obama has never trailed Romney in head-to-head matchups with Romney over the past nine months. Obama currently holds a four-point

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny No longer can there be any question. President Obama has removed any doubt. He is the most narcissistic, arrogant, and unethical man who has ever occupied the Oval Office. His arrogant, almost Godlike attitude should be enough to convince the voting public to pull the lever for anybody but Obama in November. But that's just one persons view. More interesting commentary found here , here , here , and here . Disgusting, simply disgusting. Via: Memeorandum

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- T yranny BUZZFEED - Popular conservative artist Jon McNaughton has released a new painting, the latest in his controversial series of anti-Obama artwork. The Empowered Man—which shows President Obama watching in horror as a thirty something white male, standing in front of the White House holds up the U.S. constitution in one hand and a wad of cash in the other—was released this week. “I wanted this painting to reflect the hope many Americans are having that we can steer our country back on track,” McNaughton emailed BuzzFeed. “I used real models and it took a couple of months to paint.” The Empowered Man is a follow up to another painting called Wake Up America, which included inflammatory images of President Obama standing in a rain shower of corporate cash while American workers trudged along in chains. { Click For More }

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny h/t: The Griper's World Points methinks everyone should be able to understand.

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny The following word salad of irrationality and hate was left as a comment at Rational Nation USA on a post entitled “ Free Will .” After a initial reading of, and further contemplating the comment I decided to withhold publication of “anon’s” comment as I believed it to lack any intrinsic value whatsoever. Other than demonstrating a complete lack of intellectual clarity and honesty I thought the comment to be, well, rather worthless. It was not until “anon” decided to post his/her delusional irrationality that I decided to publish the comment on Rational Nation USA. Objectivism , because it requires looking at reality squarely in the face so to speak, absolutely scare hell out of the collectivist mindset that is personified by “anon.” For those with a rational mind I am sure you will get a chuckle from reading the following diatribe of irrationality. It expresses feelings born of the belief that somebody, from “ano

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Sword of Truth The Obama administration and it's robotic like followers would have you believe the nation is better off than it was four years ago. Factual empirical data disagrees. Rather than doing the he said he said blame game just look at the data. GWB's administration was a economic disaster in its infancy. Enter BHO's administration that essentially continued the misguided policies of its predecessor and what we have is a prolonged economic down turn with continued high unemployment. No doubt the neo-cons on the right, as well as the statist socialists on the left will call for greater government intervention to force a market correction to bring us back to prosperity. I might suggest a reading of, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal before further tinkering with the economy occurs. Cut to Investor's Business Daily for the real scoop. Investor's Daily - Economy: A Bloomberg poll out thi

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -VS- Tyranny The "Raise" Act, sponsored by Marco Rubio, a common sense and reasonable piece of legislation is soon to be voted on. Of course the unions, especially the dishonest and untrustworthy SEUI is falling all over itself misrepresenting what the law says. In the unions continuing attempt to keep exceptional employees, those who contribute the most from being justly rewarded for their individual efforts the union will stop at nothing. Including lying in the hopes of winning support for their bankrupt collectivist ideology. From the SEIU blog : Collective bargaining rights are under attack. Again. The "RAISE Act," introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), is yet another attempt to undermine the rights of workers to bargain collectively. The bill, which goes to a vote today, would take away employees' rights to negotiate contracts that create a uniform, fair process for granting wage increases. Empl

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny This women has been out of touch with reality for so long even I am beginning to feel sorry for her. Not that it will happen mind you. I'm just sayin... HuffPo - WASHINGTON -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is playing politics with its vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, an action she said that even she didn't seek as House Speaker when she thought someone was legitimately deserving of it. "I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day," Pelosi said to laughter, during a sit-down with reporters. "I'm not kidding. There's a prison here in the Capitol ... If we had spotted him in the Capitol, we could have arrested him." Rove was senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2007. Asked on what grounds she could have a

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny It is refreshing to read something like this from an elected official that actually has the interests of We the People in mind. We are all hopeful I'm sure that Senator Rand Paul lives by these words and stands for the people. If he does he has a bright future in American politics and governance. National Review - Much has been speculated and written since my endorsement of Mitt Romney for president. Many in the liberty movement and my longtime supporters wondered if, as a result of endorsing someone for office, I would stand up to them when they went astray. The question to me is as strange as the answer is simple: Yes, strongly. Every time. I have always done what I believe and I have never been blinded by party. In my time in the United States Senate, I have opposed the USA Patriot Act, voted against the NDAA over indefinite detention, fought to end mandatory minimum drug sentences, and voted against my par

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny So much for transparency in what was to be a transparent administration. I have no issue with the use of executive privileged when invoking it is for, say national security reasons. Somehow this time it just seems to look like, walk like, and quack like a CYA move for Holder and the Obama administration. The Washington Post - President Obama asserted executive privilege over documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation Wednesday as a House panel moved to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt for failing to cooperate with a related congressional inquiry. The president’s decision to withhold the documents, his first use of executive privilege, and the House panel’s anticipated contempt citation quickly intensified a long-simmering feud between the White House and Republican lawmakers and set up a clash over the extent of presidential power that may take months to resolve. Sharing the “Fast

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Ex Minnesota Republican Governor Jesse Ventura saying it as well as I've heard it said. Hats off to Governor Ventura. Who by the way left the republican party to join the Independence Party of Minnesota in 2000. Post Bulletin - Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura said both he and former first lady Terry Ventura have pledged to do whatever they can to help defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage. "I certainly hope that people don't amend our constitution to stop gay marriage because, number one, the constitution is there to protect people — not oppress them," Ventura said during a recent interview. He will be at the Barnes & Noble at Apache Mall at 7 p.m. today for a book signing. In November, Minnesota voters will decide whether to amend the state's constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Ventura said the issue is personal for him

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny I am bracing for criticism from the far right as well as from the far left. Of course the criticism will be for different rationale, or reasons. The right will likely view the following as a sell out, a unnecessary compromise. On the other hand the left will no doubt call it hypocritical as they will make the case it strays from Randian objectivist principles of rational self interest. Both will be wrong. What each side fails to recognize is that reality will ultimately exact it's price for bad decisions made as well as for good decisions not made. Reality is blind to ideology. The "No New Tax Pledge" pushed by Grover Norquist and signed by many republicans is nothing more than taking the reasonable and pushing it off the edge of a cliff to nowhere. Reality will, as it always does exact it's price. Government, in the case of the USA means a limited constitutional government as defined and devised b